Dealerships are moving in the right direction and have been focusing on Customer Satisfaction for the last decade.

Retail facilities have big budgets to bring in the clients through advertising,  CRM’s and SEO’s and many other company’s with acronyms attached to them. The initial form of contact is the computer with over 60% of your clients using this as a first point of contact. However once that initial contact is made the phone is picked up and used to schedule appointments or get more information before they come in.
When clients are picking up the phone and call your company, are they your customer? No. This is the biggest misconception we have as retail employees, service advisers and sales people. These are future customers. They will hang up and call 5  of your competitors,  for pricing, appointments and service.
So what do you do to make that first contact a memorable one for your future client? Listen to the way your team members talk on the phone, Are they answering it properly? Is the call coming in direct or through a switchboard?  Are you asking for a name and phone number? Is your team member asking questions or just giving information? Are they engaging and listening?
When your team members pick up a phone the conversation should be 75% listening and 25% talking. Your team should be gathering the information and giving value to your future customer.
So how do you do that? Think about when you are talking to a favorite family member or friend that you truly care about. Who is doing the talking? This should be your approach on every call. Walk around and listen to your team. Who is the best and who needs coaching.  What a difference this makes in appointments and profits. The future clients that are calling your dealership right now are raising their hands.  They have a need and you have the product or service they need.  These are the people that see your advertising hear your radio adds get your emails. This is where your team should shine!

Dealer Service Academy is the leading Automotive Service Manager, Automotive Service Advisor Training & Coaching Company.

We are nationwide and work with retail facilities to implement processes that engage the customer. Dealer Service Academy focuses on Upfront communication skills, maintaining and increasing CSI and profits.
It is our mission to coach Care, Service and Sales on your service drive where is happens. Call today for 2013 Automotive Service Team training package prices.
We offer a savings on 6 or 12 month packages.

Technology is always changing and I wanted to share something I learned this week. This is a QR code and with a swipe of a scanner on your iPhone or Android phone it will direct you straight to a website, newsletter or other special offer that a company  wants to share with you.

I was wondering at breakfast last week what these codes really did. I had an idea since I have seen them before but never looked into it. As Jack and I sat eating our breakfast, on the tables are advertisements for local company’s Real Estate Agents, Auto Dealers and even feed and fertilizer ads. At The Hangar Cafe in Chandler, AZ. It is a quaint little place located at the Chandler Municipal Airport. You think we would be sick of airports but we love watching the little planes come and go and it has great food. Anyway on the tables are these ads and then I notice  about half of these had QR codes. What a great opportunity to really figure out what these did. I went to the app store on my iPhone and uploaded the free app and within minutes I was scanning and viewing information direct to these company websites, some had coupons and special offers.  I was amazed the information I was getting and I will tell you I loved it! All this time I was thinking do we really need this? My answer to this is yes!  It is about sharing information, new  technology  this helps us to stay connected and not lagging behind. Our clients and their clients are using these QR codes to send information. Special offers and Marketing Coupons. We may not use a QR code in our day to day operation but you should always learn about new technology and not be afraid to try something new.

The fun came today as I was finishing our monthly newsletter. Yep you guessed it, I received a QR code for our newsletter. Go ahead scan the QR code above and enjoy Dealer Service Academy’s October Newsletter featuring our top ten list.

If you don’t have a scanner please feel free to sign up for our newsletter here and we will promptly send you one via email the new snail mail?

October is a month for changes happening all around us and I hope we gave you a different view.

In this series of articles We will be sharing information about text messaging with customers – Lets talk about the benefits first.

As we all know just about every customer that enters a dealership service department has a cell phone with them in their hand and paying attention to every ding or texting notification tone they have on their phone and text message that is received.

Did you know that the average text message is read within three minutes? That means that they are quickly available! Another aspect is the fact that 94% of those messages are read by users.

Benefits of texting customers include some of these examples from a dealership perspective:

CSI – As all retail dealerships know a key to the drivers of CSI is communication with customers as they go through the service process. Sending text messages to confirm and follow up after the visit will show attention to the customer and in turn increase CSI.

Marketing – Advertising agencies recommend that businesses use Texting to build opt-in databases to send promotions and announcements to subscriber’s cell phones.

Other Customer Focused Services – Doctors, dentists, salons, and other service companies use texting to send appointment reminders and confirmations. This shows that customer have become familiar with texting and expect customer based services to update them on regular basis.

In the next article we will outline how special offers can increase business for your service department.

Do you remember the pride you felt when your kid hit that game-winning homerun or executed the perfect pirouette? How do you imagine close friends feel when they bag that long-awaited, much sought-after promotion? Don’t your customers deserve to experience those same feelings each and every time they trust you with their vehicles? Arming your Service Advisors with exemplary Service Advisor Training skills accomplishes this goal two-fold: they’ll consistently hit it out of the park with record- breaking gross profits and your customers will feel like royalty each time. Do your customers feel as if they’re kings? They are already rulers of your company’s kingdom, so put a little imaginary crown on them.

The King’s Ruling

Oftentimes, your kings will make inconvenient, random request rulings on your Service Advisor. You can either watch him blunder as he stubbornly refuses to consider their request or you can provide Service Advisor Training that teaches him how to tactfully compromise and reach a happy medium with your majestic clients. They won’t stage a revolt if they are left with the impression that you have given into their demands. You’ve both met their needs and created a positive, lasting image.

Absolutely Essential: The Walk-Around

Optimize the opportunity to elevate your customer’s experience: Whenever possible, the Service Client should accompany the Service Advisor on the walk-around to allow the Advisor to advise them on their vehicle, answer questions, educate and enhance the consumer’s confidence, as well as point out any future, potential problems. It’s an excellent time to point out visual needs, recalls and safety issues; moreover, it provides a tremendous opportunity for upselling. Remember, the “S” in Service actually stands for “S” in Sales.

The Service Advisor should have an electronic or hard copy clipboard with a vehicle diagram so they can check wipers, tires or annotate obvious damages. Be vigilant about documenting minor dents or scratches. Upon pickup, this alleviates allegations that any existing damage occurred while their royal chariot was in your service department. Allow for additional space for customer ideas and comments. If you do not have this rather detailed form, you are doing your profit margin ands your clients a huge disservice.

Service Advisor Training teaches a myriad of ways to inspire loyalty from each customer encounter; this is just the tip of the iceberg:

• Whether it’s in person, by DMS software, online check-in or iPhone, greet them by name
• Keep all service areas clean
• Keep them informed of their vehicle’s status throughout the day through emails and text messaging
• Provide updates of additional, unexpected issues found
• Point out mechanics credentials and mention all awards and honors
• Offer transportation, if necessary